Bio: O’Neill, James (1926)
Surnames: O’Neil, Crothers

----Source: Neillsville Press (Neillsville, Clark County, Wis.) Thursday, 08/12/1926

JAMES O’NEILL WRITES FROM PLACE OF BIRTH

Lisbon, St. Lawrence Co., N. Y. August 1, 1926

Dear Mr. Crothers:

I am writing this letter from the home where was born the first settler of Clark County, Wis., and the founder of Neillsville. My uncle, James O’Neill was born on the O’Neill farm on the St. Lawrence river in 1810. When a young man he went west up the lakes down the Ohio River to New Orleans and later up the Mississippi to La Crosse. I remember that he told me he had chopped cord wood on the bank of the Mississippi. He came to Black River Falls in 1839 and operated a saw mill there. In 1844 he came to Neillsville and was an active lumberman and business man for many years, passing on in 1882. He filled the office of chairman of the County Board, County Treasurer and County Judge. He was a member of the Wisconsin Legislature in 1849 and again in 1868.

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